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Foster dad sentenced to prison for 108 years

A girl who told authorities that a former Palisade police officer had been molesting her and another girl while they were in his foster care said she knew she was doing the right thing when she reported him.

Telling the truth didn’t make it any easier for her Friday to watch as her father, Patrick Lee Casey, 51, was sentenced to 108 years in prison.

“I took the biggest risk by telling the truth and losing my dad,” the girl wrote in a statement that was read in court by her sister. “I lost my whole family. I hope my dad stays positive, and if he can tell the truth, he’ll be better off.”

Casey was convicted in April of 27 counts of sex assault on the two children, starting when they were 3 and 4. He has maintained his innocence, though, and Friday he declined to give a statement to Mesa County District Judge Valerie Robison.

Casey molested the girls from 1997 to 2008, but authorities were not notified until the girls no longer lived in the Casey household.

Casey started as a part-time police officer on the Palisade force in 1988 and became full-time in 1994.